1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to body armor.
2. Background Art
Conventional body armor for the protection of combatants has been implemented in various forms (e.g., suits of armor worn by knights in the 14th century), as is well known to one of ordinary skill in the art. Some examples of conventional modern body armor implementations that provide various levels of ballistic protection over various regions of a body include the armor of U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,383, issued Oct. 10, 2000 ('383); U.S. Pat. No. 6,793,291 ('291), issued Sep. 21, 2004; U.S. Pat. No. 7,266,850, issued Sep. 11, 2007; U.S. Pat. No. 7,810,167, issued Oct. 12, 2010; and U.S. Published Application 2006/0243126, published November 2006. The body armor system that is substantially shown and described in the '383 and '291 patents is commercially referred to as Vehicle Body Armor Support System (abbreviated as V-BASS) (see, for example, the Abstracts of the '383 and '291 patents). The V-BASS body armor system may be procured from ArmorWorks, Phoenix, Ariz.
However, such conventional body armor implementations may have deficiencies such as, but not necessarily limited to: limited ballistic protection capabilities; limited coverage of the body to be protected; lack of constraint when used within a vehicle and thus may jostle, bump or rub a wearer; unwieldy; overly heavy; excessively hot; and/or otherwise uncomfortable for personal wear or lacking in desired protection.